Stealth Part 9
by Wayne7793
Summary: The continuing adventures of Stealth and Felicia, along with Inara and Darin. Felicia explains more about how all four characters were connected to each other.


**CHAPTER XXXVIII**

Inara hung up the phone, very happy and a little confused, "Hmm, this is kinda weird.." she muttered to herself. She went outside and found David and Felicia together, the boy sitting next to the wild animal. She ran over and hugged the panther, "Wow, you're ok! What happened?" Felicia blinked and looked up at her, a strong voice in Inara's head, "Oh, I'm fine, friend. I needed some time to let this one, my true love, discover his inner strength. He's told me about you training him, without Stealth's help. Thank you very much!" She purred and licked Inara's face, her sandpaper tongue making the girl giggle, "That itches, but thanks!" She smiled and hugged the goofy cat's neck.

Inara stood up as David asked, "So, how's Commander Hickey?" Inara frowned, "Well, he's ok for now, but he wants me to call him Darin, he hates his last name." She pouted a little, but then remembered, "He wants to change his last name to MacLeod. He said he'd marry me!" and she jumped and down. David let out a huge laugh and Felicia stared at the two. She thought to herself how childish they are, and loved them both. She wondered if Inara would truly be happy if she knew the dark secrets behind Darin's military past.

Felicia sauntered over, "Child, I need to show you some things you may not like to hear…" Inara stopped, "What?" Felicia passed some images telepathically, enhanced photos of kills, murdered by Commander Darin Hickey, "I'm sorry, they made me store these." She turned away and Inara sat down, almost crying, "This can't be right, he's no murderer, he's the man of my dreams!" David hugged her and glared at the cat, "How could you? What's wrong with you?" and he tried to comfort Inara.

CHAPTER XXXIX

David called the number back and demanded to speak to Darin himself. After waiting 20 minutes, Darin came on the line, "Dude, what is your beef? Why did you murder all those people? We know about the victims of your sick games!" He paused, listening. David's expression changed, and his mouth fell open, "Ohh… I didn't know… I'm sorry… yes…yes.. of course… yes, I'll tell her… thank you.." and he hung up.

Inara was crying and David sat down next to her, "Um, Inara, what really happened was that Darin was a military sniper, that much is true!" and he again glared at Felicia. Inara sobbed but stopped long enough to reply, "But-but those awful photos! Why?" and she cupped her face and let loose with more tears, "Those-those poor people, I bet their f-f-families miss them…" David put a hand on her shoulder, "Um, look, those were terrorists and pirates and various thugs. He's no more of a criminal than the guy who murdered your parents."

Inara looked up and began bawling harder. David gleeped, "Um, I'm sorry, but Darin did what was asked of him, he did this for the military, he was only following orders. Those were bad people, Inara. Do you understand me? They already had bounties on them, but all private attempts at taking their life failed and he was the only specialist who could do the job, that's all…" Inara stopped, "Really? Well, what about the child I saw? He couldn't have been more than 10 or so…"

Felicia came over, "I'm sorry, I never explained who those people were. That child was strapped with a bomb, brainwashed by a terrorist group out of New Albania. David, did I do something wrong? I'm so sorry. I know Darin's a good man, but I wasn't told about his military experience, honest…" David looked at her, "Well, this is ok. I would have been really surprised if you'd betrayed her or me." He sighed. Inara cleared her eyes, and sighed as well, "I'm so glad you cleared that up. Did you talk to Darin himself? Did he tell you this?"

David looked at her, "Yes! He said he was sorry for what he did. He feels awful for that kid's family, but he was ordered to take out that child, before he could blow up a mall, where thousands shopped. He was only doing his duty. He feels bad enough and hoped you would understand." Inara scratched her head, "Yeah, he's a good man, I sense that in him!" and smiled, "Thanks, David… for asking him for me. I almost wanted to call him a fucking bastard and I might have. I would have lost him… I'm awful, huh?"

David looked at her, "It's not your fault, you didn't know either…" he looked at her, "Um, I found out more about where Stealth and Felicia's powers came from. When you get married, you up for a trip to Arizona? Inara stared, "Um, ok… why?" and David filled in some of the information Felicia shared with him earlier.

CHAPTER 40

When Inara and David visited Darin again, Inara asked him, "Um, I need to know more about how you and David's father knew each other." Darin blinked and swallowed, "Well… um, my memories are a little hazy, but I knew a group that John Freeman worked with as a side project. I was in a transport vehicle that collided with a supply truck that was heading to the lab where the project, code named "Italian God" was stored. I think they had some alien ships dismantled and found some strange fluids contained in odd cylinders of unknown material. Rumors flowed about alien experiments and odd sounds coming from some of the hangars where I was stationed. I heard a few odd noises myself and asked a few buddies if they knew what was going on. The US Air Force, under a 3rd generation Blue Book project was handling all of the equipment and experiments, top secret even to us."

David asked, "How did I acquire my wonderful powers? Any ideas?" Darin looked thoughtful, "I really don't know, sorry. Your dad might know, but I heard he's dead, sorry…" David blinked, "Well.. um, thanks. Hey, Darin, have you met Felicia? She is curious about you." Darin frowned, "The panther?" and sat up. A black feline face showed up at the window and the black cat climbed in and sauntered over to the group. David calmed Darin down, who seemed alarmed, "It's ok, she's my girlfriend… um, sorta…" Darin looked quizzically at him, "Ok, mate, if you're into animals, than more power to you!" and raised a fist jokingly.

David frowned at him, "Look, we bond better than you and Inara, so stop with the jokes. Besides, she can't have kids!" Darin stammered, "I'm sorry, David, I didn't know…" David patted Felicia, "You ok?" The panther looked up at him, "Nah, he's ok, he's kinda right, like I said before, I am a freak.." David rolled his eyes, "Well, we'll talk about that later, what did you mean about your own bank account?" Felicia blinked, "Well, I don't know the exact codes now, or the account balances, there are several." David was stunned, "Well, I found out about a secret account with almost $20 million in it, are you as rich as me?"

Darin laughed, "Haha, well, mate you make a sweet rich couple, I'll give you that. Kitty cat, you're pretty cool!" Felicia snarled, and David said, "Yeah, she likes you, too!" and winked. All three of them laughed heartily and Felicia nodded, "Well, to begin…" she went up and touched Darin on the hand and his face changed expression, "Hey, I hear something.." and looked at the panther, "What did you do to me?" Felicia stared at him, "I have given you the bond Stealth and I share." Darin looked at his hand, expecting a welt to be there, "Wow, how did you do that?" but Felicia ignored him, "I was a product of the 77th experiment done by Quasi-labs, hired by the Polish government in conjunction with the Belgium banking system, funded by the US Air Force. I was wild panther #93, the first and last one to live through the experimentation." David gulped, "What happened to the others?" Inara gulped as the cat continued, "I'm sorry, they perished from various side effects." Inara sighed, "aww, those poor animals…"

Felicia again continued, "They introduced a foreign agent into my bloodstream for stabilization to bond with a unique liquid metal. The stabilizing catalyst sterilized me and increased my intelligence. I knew what humans were, but didn't trust them… not until I saw David here, at the age of 10." David gulped, "um… what was your first impression of me?" Felicia thought, "Well, I sensed you were the nicest person I ever met and I liked your presence."

CHAPTER 41

Felicia stopped, "I need to accept the change and we need to get you two out of her.." she pointed her snout at Darin and Inara. Inara gasped, "Why, what did we do?" The cat nodded, "Well, someone tagged me as I left that man's mansion, the one who murdered your parents. They put a new bounty on you, my friend. I'm sorry. The local military kind of knows them and there are double agents already on their way. We must leave now!"

Inara pulled out a knife, "Fuck that shit! I have to stay with Darin. Can we take him with us?" David studied the life-support and wondered, "Felicia, can you handle his life-support?" The cat blinked, "Yes, no problem. I must touch my orb and you yours, quickly!" and they followed the panther out the window. Felicia stopped David and Inara, "I'll get your orb, wait here!" and she leaped down 4 stories, landing on a pair of cars. Sirens went off as their smashed bodies were convinced someone was vandalizing them.

Soon, a larger panther, with green hellish eyes returned, a black orb in it's large mouth. Darin stared, "Woah, what the fuck did they do to you?" Felicia nodded back to him, "I am now F.E.L.I.C.I.A., Functionally Elite Lifeform Independently Capable of Internal Analysis." She then morphed into a small flying shuttle, an internal gurney and life-support system melding right before his eyes. Darin looked at David who accepted the change, then looked at Inara, "Have you worked with these two before?" She smiled, "Sure, honey, they're cool!" and leaped out the window. Stealth helped Darin slowly onto the gurney and straps gently tied him into place, and several black needles inserted into his arm, making him yelp in pain, "Ouch, watch it!" but he soon blacked out, from sedatives and painkillers.

The new air vehicle slowly went out the window, Stealth looking back at the opening door. Several military soldiers entered, fully armed. Several shots ran out, but bounced harmlessly off of Stealth and Felicia. The two black shapes disappeared into the night, leaving a confused nurse, two doctors and four armed soldiers. They hit the alarm and began relaying this new status to their superiors.


End file.
